Lancers softball takes Region III round with decisive pitching, fielding

Region III
First round
Amherst 6, William Byrd 0
William Byrd 000 000 0 — 0 7 1
Amherst 020 004 x — 6 5 0
W: Sydney Lewis (11-5). L: Jessica Mahoney. Records: William Byrd 12-6, Amherst 16-5.
Highlights: A — Terri Thompson 3-run 3B; Lewis RBI-2B, 7 IP, 4 Ks, 0 BBs; Ashley Campbell SF, walk; Shauna Douglas 1-2, HBP, 2 runs; Renesha Chiles 1-2, walk, run. WB — Jamie Graham 2-3, 2B; Mahoney 6 IP, 8 Ks; Brittany Mattox 2B.
Next: Amherst plays at Turner Ashby in a Region III quarterfinal tonight at 6.

For fans at Amherst’s first-round Region III softball game on Monday, Sydney Lewis’ pitching performance might have seemed surprising, but not to her coaches. The Lancers’ junior lefty didn’t overpower opposing batters with an eye-catching flash or an ear-pounding pop of a mitt created from a sizzling fastball.

But she had a game plan and executed it.

Lewis got ground ball after ground ball and at the end of the game she had worked seven scoreless innings for Amherst in the Lancers’ 6-0 blitzing of visiting William Byrd.

Amherst (16-5) advanced to play Turner Ashby on Tuesday in Bridgewater. Results weren’t available. The Terriers finished their season at 12-8.

“(Lewis) is not going blow it by you,” Amherst coach Larry Thomas said. “She mixes her speeds and hits her spots.”

Lewis (11-5) recorded 12 of the 21 outs via a ground ball. She struck out four batters, got three pop-ups on the infield and a fly ball to right. The other out came when a William Byrd player was cut down at third base trying to a stretch double into a triple on a perfect relay throw from shortstop Ashley Campbell. Even three of the seven hits Lewis surrendered came on ground balls that found their way through the infield.

“I was confident but definitely nervous,” Lewis said. “Strikeouts are great, but they don’t happen all the time, especially when you are playing a good team. I look to get groundballs that my defense can field.”

The Lancers’ defense was up to the task. Amherst didn’t commit an error in the game and made several notable plays, including one by second baseman Ashley Hill.

Hill ranged toward second base and slid in front of ball to stop it and made a quick, strong and accurate throw from her knees to first base to get the runner by a step.

“It feels great to know that my defense is behind me and that if I mess up they are there to pick me up,” Lewis said.

Lewis has been on a roll, pitching the Lancers to three important wins in the Seminole District Tournament leading up to the Region III tournament. Lewis earned the win in victories over Staunton River in the first round, over regular season champ Jefferson Forest, in the semifinals, and Rustburg in the championship game.

“She has done the job for us all week and today, too,” Thomas said. “(Lewis) has done a fantastic job.”

One reason for Lewis’ success over the past week has been the addition of a new pitch to her arsenal. Lewis added a rise ball to her repertoire at the urging of Amherst’s pitching coach, George Maddox.

“My rise ball was actually working for me today and I only learned that about two weeks ago,” Lewis said. “I hadn’t really thought about it much, but coming into the (Seminole Tournament), my pitching coach thought I should give it a try and I was proud that it worked tonight.”

“Sydney has a real good fastball and one of the best change-ups you’ll see,” Maddox said. “We started working real slowly at the beginning of the year with a breaking ball and the rise ball and I thought she had reached a point where she had really caught on to it. At least three of her strikeouts (Tuesday) came on the rise ball. It’s another pitch (to work with) and a lot of hitters will chase it with two strikes on them.

“She really hits her spots and that’s what it takes for a control pitcher (to be successful).”

Coming into the game, William Byrd’s pitcher, Jessica Mahoney, had put together a pretty impressive season. Mahoney, just a sophomore, was named the Blue Ridge District’s Pitcher of the Year, had a perfect game, started what turned out to be a combined no-hitter and routinely recorded double-digit strikeout totals.

But the Lancers put six runs on the board against Mahoney, and five of them were earned.

“I had heard (that Mahoney was a pretty impressive pitcher), but we’ve faced some pretty good pitchers before, but I thought we would be alright if we could put the ball in play,” Thomas said. “And, right now, I wouldn’t take anyone over (Lewis).”

The Lancers took an early lead by getting two runs in the bottom of the second. Renesha Chiles led off the inning with a single, took second when Shauna Douglas was hit by a pitch and stole third. Chiles scored on Ashley Campbell’s sacrifice fly that also advanced Douglas to third. Then, Douglas scored three pitches later on a passed ball to put Amherst up 2-0.

The Lancers put the game out of reach with four more runs in the sixth. The big hit was Terri Thompson’s three-run triple into the right center field gap and Lewis followed with an RBI double.

“(Lewis) has done the job for us,” Thomas said. “If we keep hitting the ball, putting it in play and scoring a few runs, and our defense holds up, she’ll do the job for us.”